This autumn I’ve grown to love my Sunday mornings with my sister. At first it was to pick apples at Boffins Garden. Now it’s a ritual that we both enjoy. My sister would bring coffee and scones and I, my fruit picker. The apples are over now. We had our last picking a week ago. My sister makes pies with hers. I juice mine. Yesterday we met a couple of fellow pickers. Their apples were big and so beautiful. They picked 36 pounds last week and their other family members had 18 pounds. We vow we would start picking earlier next year.

What a treasure Boffins is. It is just a short drive straight down my street. It and its fruit are free and open to the public. It’s like having my own fruit orchard. Our Sundays mornings have been mostly sunny so far. Even in rain, the garden is a beautiful and restful place. There’s the gazebo overlooking the pond where we can sit out of the weather. It’s peaceful to sit and sip our coffee, reminisce about our mother and our childhoods. We talk about our father’s quirky personality. We decided that it is not possible to understand it and best to leave it alone.

There’s much more beyond the garden. There’s the University of Saskatchewan Agriculturual Greenhouses nearby. We wandered onto the Meewasin Valley Tail next to the South Saskatchewan river bank. What magnificent views! Next week I want to climb the stairs to the railway bridge.